“Those who meet Jesus always experience either joy or its opposites,
either foretastes of Heaven or foretastes of Hell. Not everyone who meets Jesus
is pleased, and not everyone is happy, but everyone is shocked.” ― Peter Kreeft: (Professor of Philosophy
at Boston College)
Gospel
Text: (MT 16:13-23)
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
and he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist,
others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I
am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you,
Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to
you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not
prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of
heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven.”
Then he strictly ordered his disciples
to tell no one that he was the Christ.
From that time on, Jesus began to show his
disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the
scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke
him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever
happen to you.”
He turned and said to Peter,
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to
me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human
beings do.”
As followers of Jesus, we too are asked the
same question, "But you, who do you say I am?" What would our
answer be? Who is Jesus for us?
Our
answer will determine what our day will be like, what our life will be like and
ultimately what our eternity will be like. If we can answer with Simon Peter,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” blessed indeed will
we be.
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